SmkyTheBr

I have been doing leather craft off and on for about 44 years since I was about eleven. I started leather craft the way a few others have, I've always loved art, drawing and painting. Leather Craft was offered as a shop class in Junior High School back in 1968. I made my dad a belt and a wallet for Christmas, I didn't see much of him after my parents divorced. After I gave them to him he wanted to know how he could do it. The Vetrans Administration qualified him as 100 percent disabled at the time due to epileptic seizures he was suffering from wounds he recieved in Korea and he needed a hobby to keep him busy. I talked to my shop Teacher and he told me about Tandy and I told my Dad. He went down to the local Tandy, at the time they were all over the place here in Mass. He started out with the lucky seven kit and went from there. He would show me the things he'd done and I liked what I was seeing, so I started doing projects with him when I visited and then on my own at home.

He eventually got into figure carving and would make us pictures for our birthdays. Because I took classes in drawing and painting, thinking I'd like to be an artist some day he would ask me questions about how to color the pictuers he was doing. It was fun talking to my Dad about that stuff and trying the different dyes on the leather to see how they'd work. We bought all the books on leathercraft and coloring leather that were available through Tandy at the time.

After he passed away in 1980 I was given all his tools and projects that he'd started and hadn't had time to finish. I finished them and put both our names on them and hung them up in my workshop. To keep this great hobby going I have been making and selling different things over the years, belts, wallets, motorcycle saddle bags, ect... About five years ago my wife and I started selling things at craft fairs, she makes hand crocheted items and I sell my leather work. As a result I'm starting to get alot more business for custom leather work and am therefore able to keep my hobby going. I would love to be able to do this full time but leather craft is not as big in New England as it is out in the Mid-West and the West. The people here don't seem to appreciate the time and love a crafter puts into his work.

Well thats my story in a nutshell.